Local

CASAs tour FH, learn about mission, capabilities

Maj. Gen. Gregg Potter, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, briefs the Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army at Reservoir Hill overlooking Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista and provides a layout of the installation for the CASAsâ€™ visit Monday.

Sixty-two Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army toured the installation on Monday and Tuesday to learn more about the missions and capabilities of Fort Huachuca.

CASAs are Army ambassadors who work with Army commanders and the Secretary of the Army on issues affecting their region without salary, wages or related benefits. Each state and territory has at least one representative.

The CASAs began their visit to Fort Huachuca on Monday, with a briefing on Reservoir Hill from Maj. Gen. Gregg Potter, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence. From this vantage point, Potter identified the key attributes of the Fort and the unique missions here supporting national defense and the joint warfighter.

The group was then able to view a launch and recovery of a Shadow unmanned aircraft system and tour the flight-line operations learning more about the importance of the Shadow and Hunter UASs in todayâ€™s tactical environments.

For Jean Shine, CASA Central Texas, this was her first trip to the area.

â€œI have wanted to see it for years and now when I am conversing with a Soldier I can say, I have been there, I know what it looks like, and I can tell you more,â€ Shine said. â€œI was really anxious to see the set up here [for UASs] because we have a little of that at Fort Hood, and it was amazing, and to learn all about the airspace was really special. It is a special thing you have here,â€ she added.

Texas has six CASAs because of its size with Shine representing the Fort Hood area. For years the Soldiers at Fort Hood have been sent here or come from here, so I have heard a lot about it and how beautiful it is, she said.

â€œI think UASs are the future. I first started hearing about it in the 90s. The newer ones have the capability that will save so many lives and give us so much more intelligence going into dangerous areas; it is something that has to keep growing,â€ Shine said.

Next the group stopped at Libby Army Airfield for a look at the Gray Eagle, a Predator-sized UAS, and an opportunity to try their hand at flying a UAS on the simulators.

CASAs had the opportunity to have lunch with local Soldiers from their respective states at the Thunder Mountain Activity Centre.

The tour continued with briefings on the restricted air space and the pristine electromagnetic spectrum environment from the Electronic Proving Ground and the Joint Interoperability Test Command. Fort Huachucaâ€™s 946-square-mile special use airspace and 2,500-square-mile electronic range provide a national strategic asset where open air testing is protected by federal mandate.

Briefings from the Network Enterprise Technology Command and Communications Security Logistics Activity highlighted their role as the single information technology service provider for all Army network communications and their mission to operate, maintain and defend the global network enterprise. NETCOM plans, engineers, installs, integrates, protects, operates and defends Army cyberspace, enabling mission command through all phases of joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational operations.

CASAs returned to Fort Huachuca on Tuesday afternoon to learn how Libby Army Airfield, the fifth busiest airfield in the Army, supports the Advance Airlift Tactics Center mission; and how the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence trains more than 2,500 Soldiers each day with more than 18,000 trained in fiscal year 2010 in Arizona and another 109,000 trained worldwide.

â€œThe combination of the military intelligence, the UAS and the quality of the Soldiers here is just amazing,â€ said Bill Moore, CASA Hawaii. Moore has been serving as a CASA for three years.

For Moore, the highlight of his visit to Fort Huachuca was â€œthe overall experience [of] learning, and a lot of it is just reinforcement of the quality of the people. Quality people, quality Army,â€ he said.

The Secretary of the Army appoints at least one individual in each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to serve as CASAs.

The term of office for Civilian Aides is two years with the possibility of serving a maximum of five terms at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army for a total of 10 years. Currently more than 90 Civilian Aides serve throughout the nation.

Criteria for selection of Civilian Aides is very specific and includes that the aide be a U.S. citizen of outstanding character, integrity and patriotism, have a deep interest in military affairs and is in a position to disseminate information about the Army to a broad cross section of the public and to other prominent citizens in their area.

Did you enjoy or perhaps disagree with something in this article? If so, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t forget, you can sign up for our email newsletter or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up with our latest headlines.

Times are changing. Gone are the days when a kid stood on the corner waving the newspaper and crying out the latest headline. Gone are the days when news could wait until the presses had finished rolling. Today news is instanta...

Joan Vasey Managing Editor As managing editor of The Fort Huachuca Scout for the last eight years, I’ve seen a lot of transitions as military and civilian personnel have come and gone, including Scout reporters. Threaded thro...

Significant changes to installation access at Fort Huachuca will begin Aug. 3 including a return to the original gate names and background checks for all individuals 18 years and older without an approved form of DOD identification. What is now known as the Main Gate, will return to its historical name, Buffalo Soldier Gate, and...

Stephanie Caffall From left, Trey Roberts, 10, John Pecic, 9, and Kyla gross, 7, hold Bible point signs during snack time. The Bible point on July 16 was God has the power to forgive. Fort Huachuca’s Main Post Chapel hosted i...

Fort Huachuca’s Civilian Welfare Fund Council (CWFC) uses the money derived from vending machines to support federal employees. Each month a percentage of the money from post snack and soda vending machines goes into a secured CWFC account to provide morale and recreational activities to civilian employees. According to Carmen Chastain, CWFC president, these activities...

Information

Publisher

This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the United States Army. Contents of The Fort Huachuca Scout are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by the United States Government, Department of Defense, Department of Army or the United States Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, Fort Huachuca, or Aerotech News and Review, Inc.

Disclaimer

All editorial content of The Fort Huachuca Scout is prepared, edited, provided and approved by the PAO. The Fort Huachuca Scout is printed by Aerotech News and Review, a private firm in no way connected with DA, under exclusive written contract with Fort Huachuca U.S. Army Garrison. The civilian printer is responsible for all advertising.